Seminary, and David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham,

Ala., shared their consensus about GCR

and Southern Baptist life. They joined John Piper, pastor for preaching at Bethlehem

Baptist Church

in Minneapolis to talk about issues

of the church and the Great Commission.

BR photo by K. Allan Blume

B21 panelists — from left, Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board; Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.; David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala.; Danny Akin, president of

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest; John Piper,

pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis —

discussed the church and the Great Commission. The panel met June 14 in

conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in

Phoenix, Ariz.

To guard against “unintentional drift” into heresy, Piper said believers must

be vigilant to ensure that the content of their message is correct. “Content

matters more than motive,” Piper said. “That’s scary – motives can send you to

hell. Not messing up the content is what really matters.”

During the luncheon, the panel discussed “The Resolve of Southern Baptists in

Advancing the Glory of God.” Platt, author of a popular book, “Radical,” said

he fears the content of much modern preaching encourages entanglement in

materialism and misses the Gospel.

“What I want to emphasize is that it is the Gospel that drives this picture (of

radical obedience),” Platt said. “I want to be zealous for the souls of the

people I pastor in regards to materialism. I want them to see that their

possessions and pursuit of money can be dangerous and even damning. At the same

time, I don’t want to produce any guilt-induced obedience or actions.”

Akin took note of the connection between theology and missions.

“Theology and missions are interrelated. If you have a theology of the Gospel

right, then you’re going to be compelled to engage in missions with that

glorious message,” Akin said. “Southern Baptists, for much of our history, have

been so pragmatically driven that we have been on mission without the Gospel.

We need to recover the Gospel in our churches.”

Ezell, as the North American Mission Board’s new president, said Southern

Baptists should not be motivated by guilt but by God’s grace. “You’re not going

to get them there by guilting them,” Ezell said. “You have to take small battles

one at a time to win the war.”

At Bethlehem Baptist, Piper said he has tried to diligently preach the glory of

God, believing this motivation will cause people to prepare to actively help

fulfill the Great Commission.

“My whole goal is to help people be blown away by the greatness of God. When

people get that in their hearts, they are so ready for planting, for pushing,”

Piper said. “If you come with a ‘do plan,’ they get tired really quickly,

especially in a church that has, for a long time, been unfed. They need a lot

of feeding.”

In a video at the luncheon, Platt talked about the 3,800 “unreached, unengaged”

people groups around the world. “They’re unreached because it’s difficult to

reach them. It’s not going to be easy, but the reality is, we have the

resources to make the Gospel known,” he said. “The question is, do we have the

resolve?

“I’m still learning how to balance the urgency of this mission with patience,”

Platt said. “I tend to be consumed by the urgency of the 3,800 unreached and unengaged

people groups. The Lord is a good shepherd to me, and He has been patient with

me, so I need to be a good shepherd and patient with my people.”

Akin, using the illustration of a large flywheel, said the SBC

“stopped rolling and we didn’t notice it. If God would be so gracious and kind

to us to allow us to focus on a passion for Christ, we could indeed be a part

of fulfilling the Great Commission.

“God is going to do what God is going to do,” Akin continued. “He’s going to

bring the nations to Himself. We could either be sitting on the sidelines or we